"Fifty Shades of Grey" for summer 2014 release

Universal Pictures are making the silver screen adaptation of E.L. James' saucy bestseller a top priority and claim the film could be ready by next summer.

Adam Fogelson, the chairman of Universal Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter: ''I don't believe that [author E.L. James] had any interest in going to a studio where rushing it into production was the vision. I don't believe that the second or third film would have benefited from that strategy.

''And I think that there are totally legitimate questions about what this book is as a movie. I will tell you that it is an absolute priority for us. It's conceivable that we could be ready to release it as early as next summer.''

Mila Kunis is currently the favourite to play naïve student Anastasia Steele in the raunchy film, who gets lured into an S&M relationship with billionaire Christian Grey - a role hotly-tipped for the likes of Henry Cavill and Ian Somerholder - but nothing is yet known about potential directors.

However, Adam quashed rumours Universal Pictures asked A-list actress Angelina Jolie to step behind the camera and revealed the studio was merely in discussions with her about World War II drama 'Unbroken'.

He insisted: ''No. We're involved in a different project ['Unbroken'] with her. But we have had really, really interesting, great conversations with talented, serious filmmakers.''